Following his team’s narrow defeat to the USA in the bronze medal match for the recurve archery mixed team at the ongoing Paris Olympics, Indian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara said it was heartbreaking to miss out on a medal, but the team will take the performance positively and continue improving. India’s hunt for their first Olympic medal in archery continued after Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara suffered a heartbreaking loss in the bronze medal match in the recurve mixed team event on Friday. Despite making history by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the semi-finals at the Olympics in a mixed archery event, Ankita and Dhiraj’s arrows missed the mark at the decisive moment, ending their campaign in the Paris Olympics.

Speaking to ANI after the match, Dhiraj said, “It feels good that we have performed better than in past Olympics. But also, we are sad to miss out on a medal this time. We have improved a lot. SAI (Sports Authority of India), TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme), and the federation have supported us a lot. We will keep working hard. Whatever we have learned here, we will try to put those learnings into practice and improve our performances.”

Dhiraj noted that the archers were extremely unlucky at times in their individual and team events.

“We were not able to win despite being nearly perfect. We will go back, become perfectionists, and bounce back. When a player is just one step short of a medal, it feels bad because a player sacrifices a lot in his life for that, he works really hard. But we stay positive. We will take it as a challenge and keep fighting,” concluded the archer.

The Indian duo came close to the bronze but fell short. They did not get off to an ideal start after Ankita struck a seven in her opening shot. The American duo capitalized on the opportunity and wrapped up the first set by one point. The US archers led the bronze medal tie by 2-0 (38-37).

In the second set, Ankita once again struck a seven, but Dhiraj made amends by sending his arrow to the 10-point region. The medal match became open after Casey hit the red zone to pick up eight. The Indian duo followed it up by hitting the nine-point mark each. However, a ten from Brandy sealed the second set in favor of the US (37-35).

In a must-win set, Ankita set the tone with a ten, and Dhiraj followed it up with a nine. Brandy replied strongly with a ten, but the pressure got the better of Casey after she sent her arrow into the red zone for a seven. India took advantage of the opening and closed the gap to 2-4 (38-34).

In the fourth set, which decided India’s fate, Ankita began the proceedings with an eight, and Dhiraj followed it up with a nine. The American archers made the most of the opportunity and walked away with the bronze medal with a 6-2 win.

Before playing for India’s fourth medal, Dhiraj and Ankita fell short in the semi-finals against South Korea’s Kim Woojin and Lim Sihyeon.

File photo of Indian archer Bhajan Kaur.© AFP